Mapping Information 1 Million Ways

Contact Me

I am Kera Lovell, a Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Hawai’i’s Honolulu Community College campus. I earned my PhD in American Studies from Purdue University in 2017. (www.keralovell.com).

Visualizing Space is my bold attempt to organize my research and ideas on visualizing space and information. As an expansion of my dissertation, my book project traces the popularity and progression of a particular method of post-World War II protest in which activist groups “liberated” (or squatted on) privately-owned, undeveloped vacant lots and converted those spaces into publicly accessible shared green spaces.

In mapping how this typology of protest migrated internationally, being adapted by different activist groups and collectives with different political and social agendas, I seek to explore ways that I can visualize this form of protest beyond the prehistoric and mundane tools of visualization so common in historical monographs – the bar graph, the linear chronology, dots on a map, etc. Ultimately, I was left with one big whopper of a research question – How can visuals be used to add to, build on, and make sense of information in the humanities that is in dire need of critical analysis?

With a microscopic graphic design background and research and teaching interests in mapping complicated theories and ideas, this blog is my tool for organizing the world of visual communication into easily understandable conceptual categories.

Stumble across a great infographic? Want to share some suggestions for visualizing information with me? Send me an email at keralovell@gmail.com.

Also check out my other blogs on food, politics, and pop culture that can all be found at my main website, www.keralovell.com.